The present invention relates to a print system which takes in image information via an electronic camera incorporating an imaging element and prints an image based on the image information.
The invention also relates to an electronic camera for used in the print system.
Recently, various methods of using electronic cameras such as digital cameras which take in image information of subjects through imaging elements have been proposed. Image information acquired by the digital camera is transferred to a personal computer and then observed on a monitor or printed by a printer. Alternatively, the image information is directly transferred to the printer and printed out, that is, it is directly printed.
For the direct printing, a special-use digital printer incorporating an image memory is generally used. In a case where image information taken in the digital camera is transferred to the digital printer, the image information is transferred to the printer-side image memory via communication drivers of both camera and printer and printed.
However, when the direct printing is performed, the communication time as viewed from the digital camera side sharply differs from the communication time in a case where data is normally transmitted to the personal computer. Specifically, the state of ordinary data transmission among personal computers varies according to the operation speed, etc. of the reception-side computer. In general, the computer keeps on transmitting data at a fixed rate. Even if a wait command is issued during the transmission, the start and stop of the operation are repeated at a predetermined ratio. By contrast, in the direct printing, it is necessary to transmit data in accordance with the printing speed. Thus, if a certain amount of data is transmitted, the operation is made to wait. In particular, in the case of a dye-sublimation type printer, the wait time is extremely long.
On the other hand, in a general digital camera, if the camera is not operated for a predetermined time period or if a predetermined time has passed since the operation of the camera was stopped, an auto-power-off function is activated and the power is turned off. Accordingly, it is possible that in the above-mentioned direct-print operation, the auto-power-off function may be activated at a wait time during the data transmission.
The present invention has been made in order to solve the above problems, and its object is to provide a print system capable of carrying out a normal printing operation, with an electronic camera not turned off during a printing operation, and an electronic camera applicable to this print system.